Hi All
I spend a lot of time fly fishing for Atlantic Salmon and Seatrout in my local river here in western Denmark. I also tie a lot of flies for my fishing, as I prefer to use my own flies. But during the last 3-4 seasons, my flies and fly tying have changed a lot, but not necessarily for the better…
I love to tie what I will call “advanced” flies, with lots of different materials, and a lot of beautiful and neat details. And I also love to fish these fantastic creations! But like I said above, this has changed… It seems to me, that the fish prefer more simple flies! And so the flies I have caught most of my Salmon and Seatrout on during the recent years, have mainly been “boring” tube flies, which consists of nothing more than a body of metal tube (US tube and the like) and a wing of 2 or 3 different colors of fox hair, with a little flash, and then the fly is finished with a hackle and maybe a cone.
The problem for me is, that tying these simple flies is not nearly as fun as creating more advanced patterns, and sometimes my beloved hours spend by the vice, can feel like a “chaw”, where I simply crank out these boring flies. But oh boy, the fish love them!
And I have also found, that I don’t like showing my flies to other fly fishers, as I am kind of embarrassed about these simple flies… I know, it sounds weird, and it’s also sort of hard to explain…
So my question is, what do you guys use when targeting Salmon and Seatrout? Do you prefer simple flies, or more “advanced” flies? And most importantly, which of these two types of flies are you most successful with?
/Bendix
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Flies for Atlantic Salmon
Moderator: Paul Arden
Re: Flies for Atlantic Salmon
Ive fished and guided in many different places for Atlantics, Russia, Iceland, Canada, Norway and the UK. Ive been part of parties on Ponoi in Russia that over different weeks have landed between 700 and 1000+ salmon per week to 20 rods, thats a lot of fish landed and many more hooked and lost.
Ive seem lots of fish landed on highly complex patterns and also as simple as a foam earplug lashed to a hook and skated over the surface.
I really dont think pattern matters much most of the time, it can be as intricate and as highly detailed as you like so long as it retains mobility and swims enticingly. Possibly the most successful fly used on Ponoi that will have accounted for tens of thousands of salmon was quite heavily detailed and not really that mobile as bucktail made up the main part of its wing. The reason it was so successful is it was fished at the right speed and depth and it was the right size and was also used a lot.
I never used that fly myself as I didnt like how it looked or swam, I fished a fairly simple multi layer hairwing pattern on either double hooks or tubes depending on the size of the fly I wanted to present and I was never out fished over the course of a week.
Success with salmon in my opinion is about fishing water with salmon in it, I like certain colours in different types of water or light conditions but mainly I feel its down to size, depth and speed, I think mobility matters more to me than the fish but would never fish a fly that wasnt mobile. When you see a salmon in a gin clear Icelandic river holding station pointing downstream and watch a red Francis drop to the bottom and then pick it up, it kind of makes a mockery of what a lot of the classic literature has had us thinking.
Its so hard to be in a position to be certain that a fly pattern has really made the difference. People fish a pool with one fly, switch flies and hook up immediately and then praise the new fly for its effectiveness, yet you will never know if that next cast with the old fly might have also hooked the same fish? Ive watched guys covering the same fish or pod of fish for hours from high vantage points in Iceland, they throw everything at it from small to big then back to small again and it then takes it, so why didnt it take small first time around?
I stopped thinking too deeply quite a few years ago now after seeing so many examples like that. My advice would be tie what makes you happy providing it isnt something crazy and lifeless and fish it with confidence, depth, speed and size matter most I think.
Ive seem lots of fish landed on highly complex patterns and also as simple as a foam earplug lashed to a hook and skated over the surface.
I really dont think pattern matters much most of the time, it can be as intricate and as highly detailed as you like so long as it retains mobility and swims enticingly. Possibly the most successful fly used on Ponoi that will have accounted for tens of thousands of salmon was quite heavily detailed and not really that mobile as bucktail made up the main part of its wing. The reason it was so successful is it was fished at the right speed and depth and it was the right size and was also used a lot.
I never used that fly myself as I didnt like how it looked or swam, I fished a fairly simple multi layer hairwing pattern on either double hooks or tubes depending on the size of the fly I wanted to present and I was never out fished over the course of a week.
Success with salmon in my opinion is about fishing water with salmon in it, I like certain colours in different types of water or light conditions but mainly I feel its down to size, depth and speed, I think mobility matters more to me than the fish but would never fish a fly that wasnt mobile. When you see a salmon in a gin clear Icelandic river holding station pointing downstream and watch a red Francis drop to the bottom and then pick it up, it kind of makes a mockery of what a lot of the classic literature has had us thinking.
Its so hard to be in a position to be certain that a fly pattern has really made the difference. People fish a pool with one fly, switch flies and hook up immediately and then praise the new fly for its effectiveness, yet you will never know if that next cast with the old fly might have also hooked the same fish? Ive watched guys covering the same fish or pod of fish for hours from high vantage points in Iceland, they throw everything at it from small to big then back to small again and it then takes it, so why didnt it take small first time around?
I stopped thinking too deeply quite a few years ago now after seeing so many examples like that. My advice would be tie what makes you happy providing it isnt something crazy and lifeless and fish it with confidence, depth, speed and size matter most I think.
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Re: Flies for Atlantic Salmon
I once took out my trout fly box at a gathering in Spain and they fell about laughing. They said “no no this is too much; show us your real flies”. They thought I was playing a prank with my “British sense of humour”.And I have also found, that I don’t like showing my flies to other fly fishers, as I am kind of embarrassed about these simple flies…
Re: Flies for Atlantic Salmon
Hi
Thanks for your answers. This has certainly given me some things to think about.
/Bendix
Thanks for your answers. This has certainly given me some things to think about.
/Bendix